Kurzweil PC3LE8 Synthesizer Keyboard Workstation Review

Rating: 5 (out of 5)

The first thing you will notice about the Kurzweil PC3LE8 when you sit down to play it, is just how well-built and robust it is. It looks really high quality, and has this very alluring quality about it. But this keyboard is a lot more than just good-looks. Kurzweil has really worked hard to make a workstation that is very easy to use, and provides a great range of the best quality sounds.

If you like to get creative with your performances, then the Kurzweil PC3LE8 will give you the ability to really push the limits and produce some weird and wonderful sounds. You will find that Kurzweil has designed the PC3LE8 to be as efficient as possible, so many of the features can be accessed with just one or two clicks of a button in the interface.

With over 700 preset sounds built into the PC3LE8 workstation, you have a massive range to work with. The things you can do with each of these sounds, such as using saturated distortions, classic sounding phasers, reverbs that melt down into silence and many more, will allow you to produce some really unique music.

Finding your way around the Kurzweil PC3LE8

The PC3LE8 is a fairly large, 88-key workstation. So when you first sit down at it you will see a wide array of functionality at your disposal. But once you start to dig deeper into what each section does you will see just how well though-out the control panel is. It will not take you long to see just how easy it is to access all the features you need while playing.

The user interface on the Kurzweil PC3LE8 is very interactive, giving you real-time values and parameters. Whenever you turn a knob or move a wheel or press any of the buttons on the interface, the display on the PC3LE8 will show the controller, and the real-time value and the affected parameter too. You will be able to change any of the effect chains freely, and it will not disrupt any of the information.

Many musicians like to be able to customize their sounds a lot to make them unique and give their performances a certain edge. Kurzweil has recognized the demand for this and has made it very easy to do so with the new dynamic real-time controllers they have added to the workstation.

All you need to do to customize any sound is move the controller, then press the Save button. You do not have to mess around with lots of parameters, pages and menu selections, you just have the ability to use a 1-touch sound customization, which is hugely beneficial for those that want to utilize this.

Realistic sounds

The sounds that the Kurzweil PC3LE8 has built into it are incredibly realistic. The keyboard uses the same chip technology that the original PC3 used, which then went to become the most talked about keyboard for a long time largely because of this technology.

All of the sounds that were included with the PC3 are present in the PC3LE8, plus there are many new additions for the LE models too. You will find the legendary Kurzweil grand piano, KB3 organs, vintage electric pianos, percussion and horns, stunning Orchestral and Strings collections, General MIDI and a lot more too.

Overview of one of the setup modes on the LE range

There have been over 200 additional programs developed just for the LE range, bringing the total to over 1050 programs in-all. Of course, when you have this many programs available to you, the needs for organization and easy navigation are essential, and Kurzweil has done a great job of achieving this.

The is a complete new set of category buttons, which makes finding and using any program you want that much easier and more efficient. For example, if you selected the Guitars, then you will be given a list of the entire Guitar sounds all grouped together for easy viewing a selection.

Things to look out for on the Kurzweil PC3LE8

There are no major areas of concern on this workstation, no matter how hard you look to try and find some. One thing you should know is that this keyboard is a beast, it is large and heavy, so this may not be to everyone’s liking.

But it is so solid as it has been incredibly well designed, and built to last. If you need to move the keyboard around to play at different gigs, then you will not have to worry so much about any flimsy parts getting broken.

Now the good stuff

There are so many aspects to the PC3LE8 that we loved. To give a basic overview, pretty much everything that the PC3LE8 does, it does it extremely well. The quality of the sound is incredible, and the way that the keyboard has been designed so that you can access everything so quickly is very impressive.

Kurzweil has really tried to simplify every process used on this workstation. The need for efficiency and logical movement between programs is definitely required at all levels, and Kurzweil has done an incredible job of providing this. The Kurzweil PC3LE8 synthesizer certainly has the quality to meet even the highest of expectations, a great workstation for the price range it is in.